Police officer who took away seized sand for use interdicted

A police officer who worked in the anti-corruption unit of the Kurunegala Police Division was interdicted on the directive of the Kurunegala ASP for unloading a stock of sand seized by the police during a raid to a private land.

Police said a load of sand had been seized by the police during a raid in the Matiyagane area. Later several trucks had been used to transport the stock to the Wellawa police on Thursday, However the police officer in question has got a stock of sand from one truck unloaded at a land.

Kurunegala Division’s anti-corruption division officers had conducted this raid on February 25 to control illegal sand mining in the Ma-Oya.

When officers of the divisional anti-corruption section raided this sand mining place at night, the suspects who illegally mined the sand had fled. Since there was a large stock of sand that had

been dug up from Ma-Oya at that place, the police had taken several trucks there and loaded the sand to transport them to the police station.

At this time, constable driver Jayathilaka, who was working in the anti-corruption division, had arrived at the place where the sand was being loaded, released the constable, who was on duty there, and climbed into one of the trucks transporting a load of sand to the Wellawa police station. Police said that the officer had unloaded the sand in the vehicle on the land of a person known to him. When the Senior Deputy Inspector General in charge of the North Western Province Lalith Pathinayake had become aware of this incident, he had informed the Senior Superintendent of

Police in charge of the Kurunegala Division to initiate a special investigation. Subsequent to an investigation, steps have been taken to suspend this particular constable. When this suspension was implemented, this officer had been temporarily transferred from the anti-corruption division to the Melsiripura police station.